


Justice You Can't Run From

by Mikkal



Series: Partially Developed Storylines [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: #TeamFlash, Barry runs into a wall, Best Friends, Crushes, Family, Friendship, Gen, Girl Power, Humor, Iris West Defense Squad, Laurel Lance Appreciation Squad, Laurel changes her Black Canary outfit, Multi, OT3: Westhallen, Post-Season/Series 01 AU, Shopping, Slice of Life, Thea is Red Arrow/Roy Harper is Arsenal, miss-use of Snapchat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 01:38:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4203048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikkal/pseuds/Mikkal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p> "Why the hell would I want to run? Dude, Justice can kick my ass around all day, it'd be an honor!"</p>
</blockquote>Laurel Lances moves to Central City. Iris takes her out for her first official day as a Central resident.
            </blockquote>





	Justice You Can't Run From

Laurel leans closer to the mirror in her apartment foyer and fixes her lipstick, then fluffs her hair even though it doesn’t really need it, straightens her already straight collar, and forces herself to admit that she doesn’t need to fix anything. She looks perfect and she’s stalling.

            She takes a fortifying breath, bracing herself for the day, (she doesn’t feel very braced), and swings open her door. What waits for her makes her yelp in surprise and almost drop her purse.

            “Iris!”

            The younger woman grins brightly at her, her natural curly hair done up in a messy bun that Laurel narrows her eyes in jealousy at. “Hey, Laurel, you ready for your first day as a Central City resident?”

            Laurel laughs softly. “No, but yes.” She takes another breath. “It’s just a big step, you know?”

            Iris waits for her to lock her door and start walking before she links their arms together and walks in step with her. “I know. I thought that too when I went off to undergrad. I decided to leave the nest a little farther than my dad wanted and when I got to Coast City I thought I’d made the wrong decision.”

            “Did you?” she asks quietly.

            She shakes her head. “It was hard at first, but it’s one of the best things I’ve done for myself. Probably number two on the list of greatest thing ever.”

            Laurel tugs on the front gate to make sure it’s latched properly. The last time she didn’t do that Mrs. Davis’ pit-bull escaped and she had to hunt the beast down before someone got the wrong impression of a roaming pit-bull.

            “What’s number one?”

            Iris pats her arm. “Nuh-uh. This day is about _you_ , Miss. Lance. We’re going to hit Jitters first then the modern art museum that opened last month—your timing couldn’t be better. Your mom wants to meet for lunch between her classes and then I’m going to take you on a tour of the best stores so you can add some Central City Classics to your wardrobe, and we’ll finish the day off with a fabulous dinner at the most amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurant ever and we’re going to meet the rest of #TeamFlash at Fourth Wall after.”

            Laurel can’t help but laugh. Her cheeks hurt and she’s so glad her makeup is waterproof because tears leak from the corner of her eyes. She stops to double over a bit and she doesn’t have to look to know Iris is looking at her, hands on her hips and lips quirked in an amused smile.

            “Okay, first of all,” she says, breathless, when she finally contains her laughter. “It’s amazing how well you know me. That sounds perfect.”

Iris sniffs primly, exaggeratedly. “I know.”

“And…did you really just say _hash tag_ Team Flash?”

She links their arms again, tugging Laurel along. “I’ll have you know Cisco came up with that. Barry encouraged the team naming a little too much. The fangirls are calling themselves that now, too. Which is way better than calling themselves ‘the speedsters.’ That just sounds weird.”

Laurel wrinkles her nose in agreement. Does that mean, back in Starling, they would’ve been #TeamArrow? To be completely honest, it’s doubtful. That’s one of the reasons why she left Starling to move here ‘Sunny Central City: The Fastest City in America,’ #TeamArrow doesn’t exist, never did exist, and never will exist. Or, a Team Arrow where she’s an important, comfortable part of it will never exist.

“Hey.” Iris nudges her. She looks up and she smiling softly at her. “When I say #TeamFlash, I’m including you in that, you know? Black Canary is more than welcomed to join the conglomeration we have going on here. The biggest one city team in the world!”

Laurel smiles brightly at the thought. Her favourite team ups were always with the Flash and company. Batman and Gotham creeps her out, Superman and Metropolis makes her feel uncomfortably small, and, of course, her negative feelings toward Starling. (Negative feelings she’s hoping will fade with time. She doesn’t like feeling like that toward her home and friends.)

“Okay, no more sad thoughts,” Laurel announces just outside CC Jitters. “This is going to be a good day.”

“Damn straight.” Iris drags her into the coffee shop and introduces her to her former co-workers—going as far as to introduce her as Dinah Lance instead of Laurel.

She might have fallen in love with Iris just a little bit right there. She stares at the woman as she orders drinks, imagining her life here in Central. It’s going to be perfect. Cisco is here; Iris is here, Barry’s here, Eddie’s here, Caitlin’s here. Her mom’s here too, of course.

Her phone buzzes. She pulls it out and swipes the screen, smiling fondly at the canary Felicity put up as her wallpaper. Oh, oh! Thea sent her a SnapChat.

It’s a selfie of Thea in the Arrow Cave, pouting while it looks like Roy is arguing with Dig about something in the background. _#Miss You Already Birdie_ written across the banner toward the bottom. Her response is to send a picture of her coffee reading _Dinah_ and the message _I have good coffee & you don’t (:P). _

All she gets for that is a close up of Thea’s middle finger. She laughs out loud.

Iris grins. “Thea?”

“Yep.” She tucks her phone away and takes a sip of her drink. “I believe you said there was a new museum? Lead the way, Miss. West.”

[…]

Iris and her giggle together as the poor tour guide gets more and more flustered as a five year old asks questions he doesn’t know the answers to. She should feel guilty at laughing, but she shoves the guilt back and lets the laughter continue to bubble. She’ll feel guilty tomorrow, today is happy feelings day.

“No, I’m telling you. Black Canary would beat Cobalt Blue in a fight.”

“Yeah right. And _I’m_ telling _you_. Red Arrow would beat all of them.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Superman for the win.”

“Who asked you?”

Laurel glances over to see a gaggle of teens, probably here on a school trip, arguing passionately. One of them has Static’s symbol on her purse and another’s got ‘Keep Calm and _Loord revo Annatnaz’_ shirt on. She nudges Iris to get her attention and they both go from laughing at the poor guy’s misfortune to eavesdropping on a superhero argument.

The Static-girl waves her arms in the air. “Cobalt Blue relies on brute strength and combining his attacks with the Flash. You take away the Flash and Canary can get the upper hand no problem. You can’t argue Red Arrow because she’s in Starling and Superman _never_ counts.”

“Black Canary is in Starling too,” the girl wearing the Zantanna shirt points out. “By your logic, she doesn’t count too.”

“Ha! That’s where you are _wrong._ Someone spotted Black Canary helping Vibe take down a metahuman last night.”

“She might have been visiting, they do that sometimes.”

“…Killjoy.”

Iris leans in close to whisper, “Other than the whole ‘Cobalt Blue relies on brute strength’ they’re not wrong.” She yelps when Laurel pinches her. “What? It’s true!”

“Thea’s wins are 26:28,” she points out, but she’s grinning. “We’ve matched win/lose twenty times now. I’m pretty sure the next time we fight we’ll be 27:28.”

Iris laughs and Laurel’s phone buzzes again. She pulls it out and laughs when she sees another SnapChat. This time from Cisco. It’s a picture of the foam barrier that keeps Barry from crashing into expensive and/or important equipment when he trips on the treadmill. Barry’s laying in front of it, face down, and flipping the camera off. Somehow one of his shoes came off.

Laurel tugs Iris in and they take a picture. She sends it to Cisco without any text before tucking her phone away.

“I don’t really want to know what they were doing this time,” Iris says. She’s putting her own phone away, she probably got the same SnapChat she did. “They’ve been testing his speed even more lately. Hal’s put an idea in his head and Barry just won’t let it go.”

“Is that a bad thing?” she asks. This time she’s the one that hooks their arms together and she leads them toward another exhibit.

Iris’ expression is pensive. “I don’t know yet,” she admits. “I just worry about him too much, I guess.”

“Nonsense,” she says, shaking her head. “You love him, there’s no such thing as worrying too much when love is involved.”

They come up to a statue Laurel’s never seen before, but Iris launches into a long, jumping explanation of who made it, where it’s from, and ‘hey, did you know this is actually a replica? The Egyptian government mandated that anything taken out of their country must either be a copy or be under the supervision of an Egyptian national at all times.’

[…]

“Okay, your mom’s not nearly as scary as I thought she’d be,” Iris says.

            Laurel laughs. (How long has it been since she laughed this much in one day? Probably since before Oliver’s shipwreck.) “Everyone says that. I don’t know where they get it from, though.”

            Iris gives her a look, her eye brows raised in disbelief. “Um, she looks as approachable as a wolf. Is that where you and Sarah get it from?”

            “Get what?” she asks absently, digging through the rack of clothes. When she doesn’t get an answer she looks up to see Iris trying to give her best ‘death-glare,’ it’s pretty good, but she’s seen worse from Nyssa. “Oh, you mean that! Yeah, I think so. Nyssa helped us improve on them. The bad thing is the mask doesn’t really enhance it, it just makes it hard to see our eyebrows.”

            “Oh, yeah. I did notice that.” Iris tosses her a blouse and a vest then starts shifting through dresses. “How is Sara anyway? Still in Nada Parbat?”

            “Nah, she and Nyssa are in Africa right now. Burkina Faso to be exact.”

            “For the elections?”

            Laurel shakes her head. “No, they’re traveling the world for a break from Nyssa’s father.” She snorts. “While I believe the whole ‘needs a break,’ they expect me to believe their stop in Burkina Faso just happens to coincide with the elections? Yeah, right.” Iris stuffs another shirt in her arms. “Okay, what are you doing?”

            “Central City Classics!” Iris grins. “I told you we were going to turn some of your Starling City looks into Central looks. These would look perfect on you.”

            She raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure?” They were a lot more casual that she’s use to. Her wardrobe consists of business and workout clothes.

            “Of course, I would never steer you wrong.”

            This is true. Iris and Thea were the ones to finally convince her she needed a change in city. She lets Iris pile more clothes in her arms before she allows herself be ushered toward the dressing room.

            “Try on this one first,” she says, yanking out a full outfit with black, blue, and sliver as the running color scheme.

            They outfit consists of skinny black jeans, a dark blue strapless shirt that feels more like a corset than anything else, but is still surprisingly comfortable, a black leather half-jacket, and black shoes she can only describe as ‘biker-chick-boots.’ All in all, the outfit makes her feel invincible. Maybe this should be her Black Canary outfit? Add some thick straps to the shirt so it doesn’t fall down and instead of sexy biker boots make them black combat books with thick black leggings. It’ll basically be the same thing and look just as great. And easier to put on than all those buckles and leather.

            She steps out of the dressing room and Iris squeals, clapping her hands.

            “And you are _definitely_ going to wear it to Fourth Wall tonight,” she says. “Cisco won’t be able to sing properly all night.”

            Laurel smiles, dragging her fingers along the raised design of the corset. She kind of likes that thought. Cisco is attractive, smart, and funny, it’s no secret that he has a crush on her and she kind of, sort of has a hard crush on him too. In fact, it was him who planted the seed of thought that led her to talking to Thea about leaving. His unbridled enthusiasm for her Black Canary activities had made her warm and fuzzy when he came to visit almost a year ago.

“I thought so,” Iris says smugly.

She glances up then rolls her eyes at the exaggerated arrogant look on her friends’ face. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh nothing. What do _you_ think?”

Laurel goes back to the raised design on her shirt. “I like it. I think I might make this my Black Canary outfit.”

Iris laughs loudly, throwing her head back. “Oh, yeah. Vibe is about to become the clumsiest hero in history. Barry’s going to be upset about losing that title.”

Laurel bares her teeth in a grin, feeling great and in charge for the first time since the Glades Earthquake. “Perfect.

[…]

            Laurel stumbles out of the restaurant, full and lethargic. “Oh God. I don’t think I can eat at another place again. That was _amazing.”_

Iris giggles. “I told you.”

            She tugs the shorter woman to a stop so she can turn around and take a picture of the front of the restaurant. She sends it to everyone on her SnapChat list with the message ‘ _I’m in love (sorry not sorry Cisco Thea.)’_ Iris’ phone beeps and she laughs when she sees the words.

            “Come on,” Iris says. “Fourth Walls is, like, two blocks down. Barry and Eddie are already there. Linda’s going be about an hour late and Cisco and Caitlin should be there soon.”

            “Alright, alright.”

            They pick up the pace a bit, but that does nothing to keep Laurel from getting distracted. Oliver had been right when he said Central City was a lot, er, ‘gooder’ than Starling (he definitely didn’t use that non-word, but it fits). At this time of night on a Friday Starling is usually a mix of good things and bad things. You were just as likely to find a a druggie dying on the street while apathetic people stepped over them as you were to find a bunch of college kids having a good time.

            Central is full of every generation. There’s teenagers spilling out from the movie theater, a couple of families bouncing over to a restaurant, college kids heading to a bar, a busker with a crowd of people watching. There’s even a homeless woman who has gone, at most, ten people before someone drops change or a gift card in her basket.

            The city’s not perfect, if it was then there would be no need for even everyday heroes, but it’s a nice difference from a city that has the Glades.

            Iris curls her hand over the crook her Laurel’s elbow and pulls her away from the busker, but not before she drops a twenty in the guitar case. From the corner of her eye she sees the guitarist take a break to put one of the twenties in his case into the homeless woman’s basket.

            The Fourth Wall is loud and bright even before going in. Laurel squints at the bright red light that flashes over the street and laughs at the bad rendition of _Thnks fr th Mmrs._ The two of them head inside, grabbing drinks from the bar before looking for a seat.

            The bartender winks at them and hands them their drinks, waving off the payment. “Iris, your boys already paid for them.”

            Laurel glances around and spots Barry and Eddie in a booth in the corner, plenty of room for everyone. Eddie catches her eyes; grinning widely he waves almost frantically. Laurel laughs and tugs on Iris’ arm.

            “You look amazing, Laurel!” Eddie shouts over the music as the karaoke takes a break. “Cisco’s going to freak out.”

            She laughs again. “I know, right?” She traces the design on her corset again and tells him about her plans to make a version of it as her new Black Canary outfit.

            He nods seriously; his cheeks flushed pink and his eyes sparkling. “That is a brilliant idea.” He hooks his arm around Barry’s neck. “Isn’t that a brilliant idea, Care-bear?”

            “Sorry,” Barry says, visibly forcing himself to look away from Iris. “I wasn’t listening. But whatever you said, yes. It is!” He raises his drink in a toast to Laurel. “Brilliant.” Somehow he looks drunk and Laurel wonders if Caitlin managed to develop something for him to get drunk off of.

            Caitlin and Cisco show up just a few minutes later. Laurel relishes in Cisco’s jaw drop and arranges it so they’re sitting side by side, making sure she brushes her thigh against his leg. He jumps the first time then grins after every time, even shifting over so they’re pressed together this time.

            The party really gets swinging when Linda finally arrives, looking harried, but completely gung-ho for Barry to drag her up to sing the first song of the group. Both of them can sing amazingly well and Laurel wrinkles her nose. She can sing slow songs well, but fast songs she just can’t get out. And Barry’s an amazing dancer even if it is on a small stage.

            “Are you sure he’s not drunk?” Iris asks.

            Eddie shakes his head. “Promise. We had a really good day at work and he managed to break his record speed by a hundred miles per hour. He’s just in a really, really good mood.”

            “Was this before or after tripping on the treadmill?” Laurel has to ask.

            He laughs. “After.”

            Barry and Linda stumble back, leaning on each other and smiling ear-to-ear. Linda steals Barry’s drink and chugs it down despite his half-hearted protests.

            Everyone’s phones go off—‘ _When there’s something strange in the neighborhood, who you gonna call?’_ —and there’s a collective groan. Eddie checks his phone first, making his groan the loudest.

            “It’s the Top and it’s my turn. Crap.” He scrambles over Barry, nearly knocking over a drink. “I swear to God, though, if any of the other Rogues show up I’m tapping out. Flash here,” he poke’s Barry in the chest, “can take care of it.”

            Barry raises his hands in a half-assed attempt to defend himself and smiles sheepishly.

            Laurel raises an eyebrow. “What?”

            “I can program your phone tomorrow morning,” Cisco says as Eddie trots off, makes it to the door, then doubles back. “I was going to do it this morning, but Iris already claimed your morning. But I hooked all our phones up to the Cortex so we get alerts when alarms go off, it’s connected to CCTV and the police scanner and it looks for keywords. It’s so no one has to be there 24/7.”

            There’s something somber behind that and Laurel remembers that Dr. Wells use to spend the most time the labs before everyone learned he wasn't actually Dr. Wells and everything went to shit.

            “Hey, Canary,” Eddie says, suddenly close. “Want to tag team this?”

            Laurel doesn’t even hesitate before she’s grabbing her purse. All her weapons are in there (it’s a big purse _thankyouverymuch_. She stopped carrying small purses around when she realised everything was easier with her weapons right then and there) and this is the perfect time to see how she likes looking like this to fight. Granted, the later outfit will be different, but she’s fucking ready.

            Eddie cheers. Laurel’s never had someone cheer about teaming up with her before. She smiles widely.

            This had been a great idea.


End file.
